Gerd Bucerius (19 May 1906 – 29 September 1995)
was a German politician, publisher and journalist, one of the founding members of ''
Die Zeit''. He is the namesake of the
Bucerius Law School in Hamburg and of the Bucerius Kunst Forum, an art gallery.
Life and career
Bucerius was born in
Westphalia
Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants.
The territory of the regio ...
, and studied law in Hamburg.
Upon completion of his studies, he was named a
judge in Kiel and Flensburg.
With the rise to power of the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
in 1933, he was unable to continue his work as a judge.
His first wife, a
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
, took refuge in the United Kingdom. Bucerius remained a lawyer, defending numerous Jewish clients and others who were targeted under the Nazi regime.
With the Allied victory in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, Bucerius became a politician and journalist.
He was a founding member of the
Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDUG) in 1945.
The British tasked him with the reorganization of the
senate in Hamburg; in 1949 he was elected as a deputy to the first post-war
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Common ...
as a member of the CDUG.
He retained his seat until 1962.
In 1946, with
Lovis H. Lorenz,
Richard Tüngel, and
Ewald Schmidt di Simoni he created ''Die Zeit'', with which they hoped to found a great newspaper for the north of Germany. Even though the emblem of Bremen was placed on its cover by way of a logo, the newspaper's city of origin was Hamburg. Hamburg refused the use of its city arms for the publication, and so those of another nearby municipality were used instead.
Bucerius's villa overlooking
Lake Maggiore
Lake Maggiore (, ; it, Lago Maggiore ; lmo, label=Western Lombard, Lagh Maggior; pms, Lagh Magior; literally 'Greater Lake') or Verbano (; la, Lacus Verbanus) is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest l ...
in Switzerland, the
Ebelin Bucerius House, was designed by the modernist architect
Richard Neutra, and named for Bucerius's second wife, Ebelin. It was constructed between 1962 and 1966.
[Marta Herford: Richard Neutra in Europe]
Marta Herford: Richard Neutra in Europe
, accessdate: November 16, 2016
Honors and awards
Bucerius is considered an important benefactor to Hamburg; upon the centenary of his birth, chancellor
Helmut Schmidt
Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (; 23 December 1918 – 10 November 2015) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982.
Before becoming Ch ...
called him among the most influential citizens of the city. His large fortune was handed over to the
ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius which Bucerius had created in 1971. The funds held by this foundation are used for the promotion of scientific, educational, cultural and artistic projects; the
Bucerius Law School and the
Bucerius Kunst Forum are its most important projects. In 2001, the
at the
University of Haifa
The University of Haifa ( he, אוניברסיטת חיפה Arabic: جامعة حيفا) is a university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation in 1972, becoming ...
was established by the
ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius and its chairman,
Professor Dres. h.c. Manfred Lahnstein.
In 1986 Bucerius was given the
Honorary Citizenship of Hamburg.
Other activities
In 1983, Bucerius became a member of the advisory board of the
Bertelsmann Stiftung
The Bertelsmann Stiftung is an independent foundation under private law, based in Gütersloh, Germany. It was founded in 1977 by Reinhard Mohn as the result of social, corporate and fiscal considerations. As the Bertelsmann Stiftung itself ...
and was an honorary member since 1993.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bucerius, Gerd
1906 births
1995 deaths
People from Hamm
German male journalists
20th-century German journalists
20th-century German newspaper publishers (people)
German newspaper publishers (people)
20th-century German judges
Members of the Hamburg Parliament
Members of the Bundestag for Hamburg
Members of the Bundestag 1961–1965
Members of the Bundestag 1957–1961
Members of the Bundestag 1953–1957
Members of the Bundestag 1949–1953
Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany
Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Senators of Hamburg
University of Hamburg alumni
German male writers
German newspaper founders
Die Zeit founders